


Team Dark in "Final Eclipse"

by EdgyTheHedgy



Series: The Team Dark Anthology [2]
Category: Sonic the Hedgehog - All Media Types
Genre: Espionage, Gen, Mild Language, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:35:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 14,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27577933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdgyTheHedgy/pseuds/EdgyTheHedgy
Summary: It has been one month since the events of "The Silent Machine" (formerly Shadow's Partner Paradox) and now Team Dark, along with some help from the others are on the hunt to put a stop to Dr. Robotnik's newest plan. The only problem being, what exactly is his latest plan?
Series: The Team Dark Anthology [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1894756
Kudos: 1





	1. "The Silent Machine" Summary for Those Wishing to Avoid less-than Subpar Writing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't tell if the reason that I've seen so few people read this story as compared to the last is due to just how... rather undescriptive I can be (I'm working on it, promise!) or if it's due to the fact it's part 2 in a series that had a part 1 that wasn't exactly peak writing. In any case, I've decided to just make a summary so you don't have to bother if you don't want to read it.
> 
> I'm also working on something entirely tonally different involving Sonic, Tails, and Amy Rose and I'll see if that leads to anything worthwhile.

_ **THE GRAND SUMMARY FOR THOSE WHO DON'T WANT TO BOTHER WITH READING AN ENTIRE 15 CHAPTER STORY BUT I MEAN SERIOUSLY IT'S A WEBSITE DEDICATED TO WRITING AND READING I ASSUME THIS ISN'T YOU BUT HEY WHY NOT MAKE THAT ACCOMODATION BECAUSE I 100% GET IT.  
  
** _

Shadow the Hedgehog is assigned a new partner pulling him away from Team Dark. He dislikes this. His partner, Ozul, a panther in black with a purple and green iris each is excited. Ozul manages to go through a rigorous training course to certify himself but at the end he's overwhelmed by an battalion of soldiers beating him up and Shadow is reminded of something from his past. He uses Chaos Control and a heavily dulled version of Chaos Blast before zipping right back to the box he, Rouge, and other G.U.N. officials were watching from. Shadow then leaves and goes for a long walk and eventually succumbs to the cold and the fresh blizzard setting in. He's in front of Sonic and Tails house who help him hide out for a week at their house in exchange for him coming to their holiday party and helping decorate. Shadow then finally comes back to his apartment, meets Rouge who reminds him of a G.U.N. mandated holiday party. He attends and meets up with Ozul who has a broken arm. Ozul cheats Shadow out of money and Shadow leaves with two bottles of whisky (drinking to forget is bad, kids). Shadow then arrives at the other holiday party, races Sonic, Silver, and Jet in a make-shift Extreme Gear race and is pushed down into the snow and heads off to the garage to rethink being kind and nice. Amy Rose snaps a little sense into him. The group of Sonic's friends all eat. Shadow gets a little bit too woozy from the alcohol and imagines an angle on a tree to look like Maria and gets emotional about it. Sonic leads him off to a small campground initially intended for Blaze and Silver to stay out at but wouldn't because of the blizzard. After Shadow calms down the pair go back to the party and help clean up. Shadow offers Blaze and Silver to stay at his apartment.

We then time skip 3 months because heaven forbid I write something to fill that gap. Shadow is forced to go on mission at 4 AM with Ozul, who's name he has forgotten due to not thinking about him since being cheated out of money, and just refers to as "The Fool". The pair stake out a very suspicious area. Ozul wanders off into a cave to try and see what he can find. Shadow eventually after night fell decides to go down to the caves himself and finds a door. This leads to him accidentally discovering the Robotnik base but nothing comes of his finding. Except for finding Ozul along with many other prisoners, he ignores Ozul and leaves. Ozul himself climbs through the vents and releases the doors while Shadow sets about blowing up the base. Ozul rushes everyone out of the base as it begins to collapse into the ground (having been raised during the demolition process by Shadow). However one person is left behind in the explosion and Ozul is devastated by it, assuming that he had failed. Shadow leads the prisoners to safety and the pair leave. That is, only to be sent right back out on a mission to be contracted killers. Shadow quickly and efficiently kills his target with poison that makes the target rush to the toilet, where he died. Shadow then stole back the G.U.N. information that the target had stolen in the first place. Ozul meanwhile played cards with a wolf named Jack. Ozul won the first hand. However on the second hand Ozul realizes that Jack must have been cheating because there wasn't a possible way for the cards that were played to be played. The tension in the room is immense as he excuses himself to go to the bathroom. Where he promptly covers up Shadow's victim before leaving out the window towards the hotel across the street. Taking a suitcase he heads to the roof and for the first time kills someone, using a sniper rifle. Shadow then has to take care of Ozul on the flight home, the problem lies in the fact that Shadow doesn't really want to and instead just tells him briefly of the first time he killed someone on the ARK without going into any detail and then drowns Ozul's sorrow in liquor (drinking to forget is bad, kids). Shadow brings Ozul back to his apartment upon coming home and leaves him on his couch. Shadow retreats to his library to open an old document collection full of documents on his time on the ARK. The 10th chapter then divulges in the story of Shadow's first kill. Shadow is a little sad over the reminder of him loosing Maria and checks his calendar, noticing he's only a week away from the day he penned as the date of the ARK incident. Chapter 11 focuses on Shadow grieving for Maria and being extremely sad about the tragedy aboard the ARK. Shadow then runs into Ozul and nearly strangles him before using Chaos Control to head aboard the desolate ARK himself. In chapter 12 it's the same story from Ozul's perspective who meets Rouge. The pair look through Shadow's apartment before Rouge realizes what Shadow's done.

It's then implied for almost 4 months Ozul took Shadow's place in Team Dark. Shadow moved around from the ARK itself to a desert in Mazuri. Ozul is sent to go find Shadow in the desert. The pair meet at the colosseum from Sonic Riders and have a brief fight. Shadow tricks Ozul a few times for amusement before using Chaos Control to head to the top of the colosseum. Ozul thinks he spots Shadow heading towards some abandoned oil rigs and chases after the figure. Shadow, chases behind Ozul. Dr. Robotnik is waiting while a group of Shadow Androids stand listening. Ozul tackles a Shadow Android mistaking it for the real Shadow and ends up in front of Dr. Robotnik. The doctor then captures Ozul and brings him aboard as prisoner, Shadow stows away in the ventilation system. Wanting to try out his new "Roboticization" Dr. Robotnik uses Ozul as his first test subject. Shadow is unable to save Ozul and Ozul is taken off into Robotnik's lair. Ozul wakes up with no memory of who he is and simpy informed that he is "Eclipse". Ozul then goes on as Eclipse for the rest of the story because I completely forgot "Eclipse the Darkling" existed. Eclipse then takes out Shadow, who is just waiting at the beach to be taken into the lair. Shadow quickly retreats and finds himself outside the garden of Amy Rose's house. Amy Rose brings him inside and Shadow takes a nap without noticing. Before leaving, Shadow informs Amy to warn Sonic and Tails that Robotnik is planning something big, but he doesn't know what, and leaves the Chaos Emerald with her for Tails.  
  
_Ta-da!_ That's it. See, that wasn't _that_ bad.  



	2. Prologue: Impatience

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! No long notes like last time. I'll keep it short. Content Warnings on every chapter as per usual as well as chapter length. Writing really picks up around Chapter 3 or 4 in my opinion so at least try and stick around for that if the writing is your issue I understand 100%. I'm not sure when Chapter 2 will be out because I didn't actually want to post this today but it's the anniversary of ShTH which is my favorite game in the series so I could not pass up this opportunity. Enjoy!
> 
> CW: N/A  
> Word Count: 1955

Dutifully he walked back through the sand and into the treeline where he’d been only moments ago. He had completed his task, thought he had a nagging feeling driving away the target wouldn’t be enough, and eventually this could come back to haunt his master. As he continued to the front of the building where an out of place lab door sat he noticed a metallic blue blur reflecting sunlight off of its body brilliantly heading slowly to a halt and entering a side door of sorts. As he entered through the door he could hear talking from a distance though he couldn’t quite make out what was being said yet. The facility he was currently in was very rocky on the interior, however it seemed as if walls and flooring were being installed by a group of otherwise unremarkable robots. Taking a dimly lit set of stairs to his left he finally came upon his master working on one of his robots, however he couldn’t place it’s name… Come to think of it he couldn’t place his own name. He watched from the doorway as the doctor twisted screws inside of the mouthplate of the android in front of him. The red eyes of the robot before him bore murderous holes through his pupils. Doctor Robotnik finally screwed back his mouthplate and stepped back for a moment.

“There, now you’ll be able to command your army. The voice module is a little blunt, but I don’t think you are the social type.” Dr. Robotnik said while wiping his hands with a clean white rag.

“Voice module online.” The blue android before him said, his robotic voice came calculated and cold.

“Good! Now Metal, I need you to start working with the Shadow Android army as their leader… And the first thing I need you to do with that army is to start a hunt for the Chaos Emeralds.” Doctor Robotnik requested.

“Affirm, collect all 7 Chaos Emeralds and command army of inferior androids.” Metal spoke, soon then after blasting out the workshop and towards the side door, which was actually a massive open hanger door that provided an equally massive platform outside.

“Master, I have driven away that pest as you requested.” He finally spoke as the doctor turned to face him.

“Ah good, say Eclipse… How good is that memory of yours, you took a very hard hit you know.” Doctor Robotnik said sympathetically.

“Not so well, I could barely remember my own name.” Eclipse admitted.

“Well then we have some catching up to do. That was Metal Sonic. He is your brother in a way, the two of you are my robotic creations.” Doctor Robotnik said. As he did, he put an arm around Eclipse and walked to a further end of the stark white workshop with him.

“Then why do I look so unlike him?” Eclipse asked curiously.

“Aha! That is simple my dear boy, you are a predator who stalks in the night. One who deceives and sneaks, it was only natural to make sure you looked the part. However, if you're interested I’ve developed an upgrade for you. One that would give you a much better _grasp_ on things.” Doctor Robotnik framed it as if he was asking, but he was more so telling Eclipse to accept his proposal as he motioned his arms to empty metal slab.

Eclipse slowly got on and shut his eyes. He felt something pressed into his right arm as if it were stabbing him. Slowly he felt himself begin to shut down.

_-_-_-_

Arriving at the G.U.N compound within no more than a half hour, he had chosen to take shortcuts and speed alongside traffic on the highways to get home quicker. He’d talked to the commander and informed him of all he knew, and all he thought possible. In truth Shadow didn’t quite know what Dr. Robotnik had planned this time, but he knew that informing G.U.N about one of their own operatives being taken custody and used against their will would be more than enough justification to start taking action against the doctor. He’d done everything in his power that he could do at this point, he’d talked to Rouge, been given and passed a near pointless medical examination, and even managed to get through one of the tougher training courses in near record time. Now all he could do was sit in his apartment and wait. It was an hour out from sunset and Shadow had absolutely nothing to do. The hedgehog looked down at the table that stretched the length of his couch. Upon it sat a newspaper that had already been read through twice, a deck of 54 playing cards that he had made a tower of almost effortlessly, and an empty glass cup that had held water sat in front of the tower. Music more befitting an movie set in the 50’s played from the television speakers, the music itself being somewhat calming as he just so happened to be a by-product of that time.

Unable to sit around and wait idle anymore, Shadow stood from his couch and with a flick of his wrist purposefully knocked over his card tower. As the last cards collapsed he’d already made his way to shut the door behind him. This sudden spark of impatience bothered him, possibly more than the impatience itself. In every other situation in his life that he’d been able to anticipate, calm and level headedness came easily and patience along with it. The track record of unanticipated events was only marred by one or two blemishes, but even then he’d still never felt impatient. Impatience, hardly a believable feeling for the ultimate lifeform. It wasn’t as if he didn’t have time, in fact he had all the time in the universe. At least this was what he’d theorized while reflecting upon it during the unplanned leave of absence that started this whole mess. Perhaps it was just the fact that he’d found Dr. Robotnik in the midst of one of his plans and didn’t get to stop it before it came to fruition.

Having been lost in thought he’d barely noticed that he was currently pacing down the large mountain that made the journey from Westopolis and the G.U.N fortress to Station Square take so long. Shadow was almost perfectly sideways to the cars coming from the nearby tunnel as he continued his way down. The ground seemed to level off for a little while, then pick back up to a hill and then into a forest. A few seconds before having finally descended the mountain, a small plane from his side spots him from above and trails him. The old biplane engine rattled loudly as it started to descend out of the sky. Soon Shadow was ascending the hill and heading into the forest, the red biplane grew louder and it’s shadow loomed closer. A rock slope let Shadow jump up to the tree line as he passed above the remnants of a firepit. As he rolled to descent the red biplane evened out with him momentarily before continuing it’s descent. The sound of his jet boots gently scorching the ground he raced over reverberated through the forest. Within under a minute Shadow stood watching with his arms folded as the Tornado landed on the limited runway they had. 

“Not exactly what I envisioned you’d use that Chaos Emerald for.” Shadow remarked as Tails jumped out of the cockpit.

“Oh! Hey Shadow I didn’t know you got here before me.” Tails said as he retrieved the Green Chaos Emerald from a small glass case near the floorboard.

“New plane?” Shadow asked, looking it over. The body itself was mostly red, but near the back it trailed off into a white, yellow, and blue stripe and then left a sizable amount of the rear as white again. In the white space was a large number 4 with Tail’s logo appended to the end of the middle dash, the number itself was white with an orange outline and then a larger black outline.

“Yeah! This is the Tornado IV! It’s an upgraded version of all the previous incarnations along with a new mode that lets me propel at fast speeds underwater like a submarine!” Tails explained proudly. Clearly a lot of work had gone into preparing the Tornado IV.

“Impressive. How long did it take you to build it?” Shadow asked.

“Uhh, I’ve been working on it for a few years but I only just started doing any major work this morning. Speaking of that, what exactly is going on anyways?” Tails said, turning his answer around into a question of his own.

“Dr. Robotnik will be launching an attack soon, I can’t tell what his master plan is just yet but it involves turning Mobians into his robotic subjects.” Shadow stated bluntly.

“Wait, he’s turning people into robots again?” Tails asked.

“Again?” Shadow questioned the question.

“Not too long ago Eggman tried using some Roboticizer to enslave me, something called Robotomy?” Tails trailed off for a second in thought. “Anyways! If he’s actually managed to get his Roboticization plans working, that’s bad news.” Tails’s face had a look of deep concern.

“He turned my trainee at G.U.N into his first subject. Do you know anything about what this process exactly does?” Shadow asked the fox.

“Sort of. From what I’ve researched, this Robotomy treatment replaces parts of the body or the entire body into a robotic being that serves under Eggman’s command without question, I theorize that in this process he also takes the time to make the victim stronger as well as other things that would help defend Eggman. But if he’s taking soldiers then…” Tails trailed off again, deep in thought.

Just a few moments later a distant sonic boom reverberated through the nearby area as a blur of blue sped closer and closer to them and eventually materialized into a familiar blue hedgehog.

“Hey Tails! Oh, and hey Shads, didn’t expect to see you here!” Sonic said whilst giving a thumbs up.

“I thought I told you that I hated that nickname.” Shadow crossed his arms as he looked directly into Sonic’s emerald eyes. 

“Shady?” Sonic asked curiously.

“No.” Shadow responded curtly.

“Shadster?” Sonic asked again.

“I have a name, faker.” Shadow was starting to get annoyed with Sonic’s tone and stepped closer towards him.

“So do I, edgehog.” Sonic teased with a smug grin.

The two probably would’ve descented into a brawl had it not been for Tail’s obvious and abrupt fake cough.

“So Shadow, what brings you here anyways?” Tails asked in an attempt to cool the situation.

“I-” Shadow trailed off for a moment in thought. Why exactly had he come here? His run seemed like it had purpose when he had started but for most of the trip he’d been spaced out and unaware of what he was doing. So what in his mind drove him to come here of all places?

“- Shadow? Are you alright?” Tails asked, snapping Shadow out of his thoughts.

“I don’t know.” Shadow finally gave in response.

As Shadow turned to leave and shot in a hazy blur back towards the mountains Sonic sensed the opportunity for a race and peeled out in an instant to catch up with Shadow and the pair raced towards the rising moon in the direction of Emerald Coast near Station Square. By the time Tails had looked up towards Sonic and Shadow they were nothing more than a speck in the distance.

“Guess I better get back to work on the Tornado.” Tails lamented the loss of his company.


	3. Deep Dark Depths

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Possibly Disturbing Memories  
> Word Count: 4945

While not technically sanctioned, Team Dark and Team Sonic were working together in a hunt for Robotnik as well as the Chaos Emeralds. While the Chaos Emeralds were possibly unneeded it always seemed like a good precaution measure. The quintet excluding Knuckles now flew beside each other in a G.U.N helicopter and the Tornado IV respectively. With the nature of their destination being as icy and cold as it is, almost everyone had opted to wear an extra layer or two. Apart from Shadow who begrudgingly wore a scarf and Omega who physically is unable to wear clothing. Still, every now and then someone would try and warm themselves. Rouge sat near the cockpit to avoid the wind whipping into the helicopter from the open door Shadow was sitting at. Sonic sat behind Tails who was piloting and for most of the trip had thrown a ball back and forth with Shadow from the Tornado IV to the helicopter. Omega meanwhile sat in sleep mode by the closed helicopter door. As they approached their landing point Shadow held onto the ball and nodded towards Sonic, who tapped Tails on the shoulder and eventually the Tornado IV drew closer to the side of the helicopter.

“Sonic! You seem to be the only one to know about this place, where are we going to land?” Shadow shouted over the rotor blades.

“It’s just a lot of ice, anywhere will do!” Sonic shouted back.

“How do you know this place anyways?” Shadow inquired.

“Long story! Do you remember when the planet disassembled and there were big cracks in it?” Sonic asked as Tails hit a button to bring down his landing gear.

“Not quite. When did we next meet from that point?” Shadow asked, trying to remember as hard as he could.

“Uh, either that time we found you at an amusement park or our fight in the void at Final Rush!” Sonic shouted as the plane started to descend, the helicopter following in pursuit.

“The amusement park!” Shadow replied having finally pieced the timeline together.

“What was that whole challenge about anyways?” Sonic asked while holding a finger out to Tails.

“Just wanted to make sure you hadn’t gone soft, hedgehog.” Shadow answered which got a chuckle from Sonic as the Tornado IV made a swift maneuver to land on a convenient strip of ice near the coast.

Meanwhile back inside the helicopter Shadow picked up a large bag of supplies they had been given and Rouge woke Omega from his sleep. The trio would have to call in for any help or supplies, but likely it wouldn’t get to them for a long time. The helicopter finally moved so that Shadow could see the extensive ice region with ice caves and small villages. Below the Tornado IV came to a rest and Sonic hopped out as Tails continued to pull his plane into a large entrance covering that likely led to a big cave system within the ice palace. The helicopter set down gently as Shadow, Rouge, and Omega gently got out and the helicopter very quickly rose up and away from them.

“Welcome to Holoska!” Sonic said emerging from the aforementioned entrance.

“How long do you think this whole operation is going to take?” Rouge asked no one in particular.

“Could be a few hours, or a few days.” Shadow responded as the trio walked closer to Sonic.

“Think of it as a working vacation!” Sonic suggested as he joined their march into the depths of the cave.

As they continued through the cave the light that had once found them vanished, the attempt by Tails to start a fire the only direction they had so everyone just stuck behind Rouge. Eventually a bright orange shadow of Tails glittered across every single surface in the cave of ice that slowly became more rocky. A small chuckle bounced through the cave as Tails gave himself a small but proud smile. The group continued to the left and joined Tails near the fire who gave Sonic a smirk with an “I told you so” look while Sonic feigned dejection before the pair burst into laughter, likely the result of a bet the two brothers had.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know for how long I can keep this sustained.” Tails admitted sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head in deep thought.

“I possess a flamethrower within my arsenal of weaponry for destruction of Robotnik creations, will this prove of use for heating?” Omega asked, his loud voice reverberating through the ice cave.

“That’s perfect! I can make do with supplies from the Tornado to keep something burning. The only other thing is, we might need to keep fire use to a minimum here. Otherwise it might get really hard to breathe.” Tails informed the group to a general groan.

Tails quietly moved to the few packs Sonic and Tails had brought with them and began to take simple things out such as sleeping bags and blankets as well as his famed Miles Electric. Getting the idea to follow suit Shadow unpacked his own bag and left their basic amenity bag alone. Shadow’s bag was very light in comparison to everyone else, now formerly containing a sleeping bag, two blankets and the pelt of an animal, two ice axe’s and finally an obnoxious G.U.N bomber jacket he never bothered to wear and used more for stitching injuries in the field, evident by the lack of a bottom to the left sleeve among other holes. By the time Shadow was done and sitting on his sleeping bag with the rest of his gear sat neatly in a row next to him, the rest of the group were just starting to unfold things and pick spots.

Sonic yawned from his corner that sat him facing either the wall or Shadow. “Talk about low budget flights.” He quipped. Shadow gently rolled Sonic’s ball back to him which he nodded in appreciation for. 

Shadow looked around the room for a moment, Omega seemed to be somewhere in between sleep mode and on guard, Rouge rested with her eyes closed on her lavish sleeping bag and pillows, Tails quietly lay against the wall as Sonic stood to help set up his sleeping bag and let his little brother rest. Shadow threw the pelt around his shoulders and brought another blanket over him and laid down, watching Sonic’s movements. The unzipping of the sleeping bag and coverage of the blankets faintly bounced through the cave and Shadow watched as Tails was laid to rest gently on a small pillow. Sonic then moved to put out the fire but his eyes darted between Omega and Shadow. Shadow moved his hands from under the blanket and signed to Omega who simply raised an arm. Sonic eyed his counterpart questioningly.

“I told him he could rest.” Shadow whispered in a voice uncharacteristically smooth.

Sonic simply nodded before putting out the dim fire and moved to his own bed, slipping in and falling asleep. Shadow stared at the ceiling and waited, he wasn’t very tired yet.

_-_-_-_

Shadow continued to lay with his eyes open as he watched an extremely sleepy Tails go through his Miles Electric. Though he wasn’t exactly sure if Tails knew he was awake. Slowly he peeled back the blanket and pelt he had lay with, only missing the warmth for a moment. The room was a little brighter with the reflection of the sun upon the ice and the blue hue of Miles Electric lighting up Tails’ face. Gently he hit a hand to the ground to pick himself up and quietly alert anyone awake that he was up. The only response was a weak nod from Tails. Traversing through the ice cave was easier than initially expected and he found his way to the Tornado within a minute. The sun still shone brightly on the ice and into the hedgehog’s eyes. A cliffside sat on the other side of their makeshift runway, a small depression formed a nice viewing area to watch the entrance of the cave. Gracefully Shadow skated across the ice towards the cliffside, for once Shadow could use the edges of his shoes normally used for grinding rails to keep momentum on ice and actually skate. The scraping of the ice slowed to a halt as Shadow met the rock wall covered in snow. Having forgotten to take his ice axes he simply started to climb the edges of rocks that barely jutted out for him to hang onto and used what little lift-off his rocket shoes gave him to reach the top.

Now he stood perhaps 3 stories from the ice and 5 stories from the water underneath that. Tails had made his way out with Miles Electric, putting a peppermint candy into his mouth before climbing into his plane. Reaching in for some scrap paper and taking a look around, eventually noticing Shadow and dropping the paper back in and flying himself up towards Shadow to meet him.

“What are you doing all the way up here Shadow?” Tails asked quizzically as he descended to the cliffside in front of the black hedgehog.

“Waiting.”

“So, you don’t need rest?” Inquired the puzzled fox.

“I am capable of rest, if that’s what you are asking. But no, I do not need much more than an hour or two of rest.” Shadow walked past Tails to the edge of the cliff with the front of his rocket boots hanging off. “I can also go without food for a long period of time.” Shadow continued, having noticed Tails’ silent curiosity and knowing that he likely had opened up hundreds of questions. “Eleven days, seventeen hours, thirty four minutes and one second.” He finished quietly.

Said Ultimate Lifeform stared into the middle distance, not knowing what else to do. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tails looking at him with both concern and curiosity sparkling in his eyes. The fox shivered slightly and looked down at his Miles Electric before walking next to Shadow and holding it in front of them both. A blue screen with a radar displayed a sweeping white line and a light blue dot far to their left. Then a clutter of dots spread across the bottom and right side of the screen, each a different color of a different Chaos Emerald. A green dot sat in the middle of the radar just slightly off-center to Tails’ front left.

“When do we depart?” Shadow asked after taking in the information for a few moments.

The young inventor thought for a moment, calculating a strategy. As he did he pulled Miles Electric closer to his face and began to press buttons on the device. A light snowfall appeared to be on it’s way judging by the tiny wet flakes littering Shadow’s body though nothing seemed to be sticking yet.

“I can get everyone ready in about five minutes, but the journey could take up to a day and a half in total.” Tails finally answered.

“Then I have some bags to collect.” Shadow said, his voice being muffled by a harsh wind.

  
  
  
  
  


_-_-_-_

“Man, I don’t remember it being  _ this _ cold when I was here!” Sonic complained to the group, the wind ripped at their faces as snow crashed down upon them.

“Blue, how’d you survive out here last time?” Rouge asked.

“Lot’s of uh… Layers.” Sonic said while picking at the sleeve of his coat to rearrange it.

“It’s because he was the Werehog.” Tails said nonchalantly.

“The what?” Shadow asked assuming he had heard him incorrectly.

“The Werehog!” Tails shouted over the wind.

“You're lying! You’ve never been here have you Sonic!” Shadow shouted in anger.

“Have too!” Sonic responded in kind.

“Then prove it, hedgehog!” Shadow said. A blur of blue instantly shot ahead, Shadow waited for a moment and smirked back at the group before disappearing towards Sonic’s fading trail.

“What was that all about?” Tails asked while scratching his head.

“It is likely that Shadow did not wish for the blue hedgehog to continue complaining.” Omega stated, not missing a beat.

“Well, I think you’ve got your answer.” Rouge said before the trio sped off as fast as they could to try and keep up.

_-_-_-_

“Then it appears I’m the only one who came prepared.” Shadow smirked as he opened his bag and took out a pair of ice axes.

Ahead of the two teams was a large ice mountain that towered over them. Tails and Sonic looked at Team Dark in confusion for a moment before watching Shadow stick an axe into the ice and starting to climb up. Rouge meanwhile flew up to the peak with ease, and Omega followed next to Shadow by climbing up the mountain.

“You think you could pull us up Tails?” Sonic asked.

Shadow could no longer hear the conversation below, the wind whipping too harshly for conversations to carry more than a short length. He hung by arm strength as the sun just sat above the water, they’d likely only have an hour of daylight left. Rouge was already standing at the peak by the time Shadow and Omega had made it a little under 3/4ths of the way up. Suddenly to his right a blue ball shot up the side of the mountain and not too far below that, two namesakes twirled and rose up and past Shadow and Omega.

Shadow grunted. “That stubborn hedgehog.”

_-_-_-_

The sun now barely hung over the edge of the ice and the sky filled with darkness. Two tents sat protected by a sizable rock formation in the middle of an otherwise empty ice and snow plain. One of the tents was white with orange and blue stripes, and was fairly large. The other tent was pure white and was comparatively small. Not too far in the distance behind the tents was a large mountain, snow continually drifted off it’s edge and to the ground below. Omega kept watch over the two tents from outside, both had a light coming from the middle illuminating shadows against the canvas.

Inside one tent, Tails and Sonic huddled close together for warmth, looking through Miles Electric and relaxing the best they could. In the other tent, a somewhat tired Shadow lay on his sleeping bag, no less than an arms length away lay Rouge, the two sipping a warm liquid intermittently. 

“How do you think they’re fairing?” Rouge asked after a while, gently nodding in the direction of Sonic and Tails.

“They seem to be surviving.” Shadow gave in response.

The two sat in silence again, only interrupted by Shadow’s slow movement to take something from out of his quills. He set it next to his bag and turned back towards Rouge, hardly able to keep his eyes open.

“You seem pretty tired hun, when’s the last time you rested?” Rouge shifted her position slightly as she asked the question.

Shadow thought for a while, he couldn’t seem to remember sleeping since his time in Mazuri in the caves. That had to mean anywhere from three to ten or more days had passed.

“I don’t remember.” was the response Shadow settled on.

“Well now seems like a good opportunity to get some.” Rouge leaned over and turned off the light, now only the faint glow of the tent behind Shadow lit up the area.

Shadow slowly unwrapped the dark green scarf from around his neck and unfolded it, part of it slightly damp still from the endless snowstorm they had found themselves in. Laying back down he gently put the damp side over his eyes as he shut them, pulling the pelt and two blankets closer to his body and slowly drifted into nothingness. Not too far away, a bat took one of the pillows from her pile and slid it under Shadow’s head so he didn’t have to rest on the cold ground of the tent. The sleepy hedgehog making an appreciative grunt. She then lay down on her own sleeping bag and watched as the distant light behind Shadow quickly faded altogether, then dimly came back. The new light barely even reached the edges of the tent it protruded from. Rouge, now satisfied, quietly fell asleep soon after.

_-_-_-_

As he slowly opened his crimson eyes, the first thing he could see was his dark green scarf in a crumpled pile next to his chest fur. A gloved hand made its way from under the pile of blankets and clutched the scarf close to his face. His grip on the scarf tightened before pushing himself up with his other arm. Then silently he put everything as it was before he had lay down on his sleeping bag, putting everything in its right place as if no one had ever been there. The only offending item being a half empty mug now murky in color and cold. Quickly however, the mug was deprived of its holdings as they were drunk up in one long take. Soon, the mug was put away too and the tent is quickly open and shut.

It was early in the morning, just before sunrise could begin to envelope the sky. Then with a nod to an alert Omega who quietly powered off, Shadow walked into the distance towards the continuous drift of the snow from the mountain. A walk before anyone else even considers waking up should be more than enough to rescout his surroundings.

_-_-_-_

For now he sat atop a ledge of the mountain, plentiful snow serving a seat. The sun finally peaking above the water that seemed to fall from the edges of reality. The young fox stood between the two tents scratching the back of his head whilst looking at his Miles Electric. Eventually he crept over to the tent with Team Dark and silently unzipped the canvas, only to see Rouge and an absence of Shadow. Tails seemed to sigh of relief as he zipped the tent up again, only to then look back at his device and start pacing back and forth even faster. What had gotten Tails so on edge?

Suddenly from below what sounded like an armada of jet fighters zoomed past Shadow from under the mountain, first it was only one, a replica of Shadow holding the light blue Chaos Emerald. Then two more, then groups of twos, groups of threes, groups of sixes, groups of twelves. What seemed to be no less than 120 Shadow Androids rushed across the ice and snow towards Tails who was quick to action in waking up the parties from their tents and now attempted to bring Omega online.

Shadow attempted to drop from his ledge but a cold metal arm kept him grounded.

“Target: Shadow the Hedgehog. Objective: ELIMINATION.” A cold killer's voice spoke free from the muffled robotic cacophony.

Quickly thinking, Shadow brought an arm back to smash his attacker in the face, the grip on his shoulders loosened to the point where he could turn around and face his new foe, Metal Sonic. The two quickly engaged in a test of strength, both dangerously close to the end of the ledge.

As the two sat in tense stalemate, gunfire rang through the area and cracked the ice and crashed through metal. A blue blur did it’s best to fend off the Shadow Androids attempting to attack him whilst Rouge and Tails were defending Omega, who was firing into the crowd of androids with reckless abandon.

Eventually Shadow’s foot slipped from the edge and Metal fell on top of Shadow sending the both of them tumbling to the ground below. The two traded blows even as they fell from the sky towards the ice. Only a few seconds from impact to the ground Shadow swiftly spun his body around with all his might and landed on top of Metal, who’s spikes impaled into the ice. As Shadow got up he reached into his quills, but slowed as he saw red eyes flash a multitude of bright colors before turning off completely. A lack of gunfire and shouting made Shadow turn his head towards the group, who seemed to be walking up to a standing Shadow Android holding the light blue Chaos Emerald. The Shadow Android just stood there for a moment in time, silently as Sonic attempted to celebrate with it. Like a bolt of lightning Shadow skated across the cracking ice and skidded to a halt just behind the Shadow Android by digging a skate into the ice.

**_CRACK_ ** **_  
  
_ **

The loud sound of metal against metal seemed to ring through the entire continent with its haunting echo reverberating throughout the landscape over and over again. As the light blue Chaos Emerald dropped to the ground and started to slide, the body of the Shadow Android did too, now sporting a hole between its eyes exposing it’s wiring. Behind stood the genuine article, turning the safety back on and stashing his gun back in his quills.

“Is everyone alright?” Shadow asked, looking around at piles of himself.

“Ye- the Chaos Emerald!” Tails interrupted himself with, as the Emerald finally reached its stopping point, a hole of water under the ice near the edge of the iceberg continent, which meant it had a very long way to sink.

“Sonic, go get the Tornado and fly it over here. Rouge and Tails, I want you two to help me prepare.” Shadow said, pausing momentarily. “And Omega, I want you to take care of these robotic remains.”

“Shadow, you're not seriously thinking about-” Rouge said, her hands now host to the gun Shadow had just used and his green Chaos Emerald that he had re-borrowed.

“I have to, otherwise it gets harder from here.” Shadow said as Sonic finally disappeared over the mountains.

“What is it that he’s doing, exactly?” Tails inquired as Shadow quickly took off his rocket boots.

“You remember when you were curious about what makes me the Ultimate Lifeform?” Shadow asked, now moving onto discarding his gloves.

“Yeah, but what does that ha- Oh.” Tails said, finally catching on, however as Tails went to speak again Shadow responded.

“Maybe, an half hour. Adjusting for the ice cold and that I’ll be ditching warmth… Twelve minutes.” Shadow said. “When I submerge, I don’t plan to swim back up. I’m going to use Chaos Control. When I’m back, I want you prepared with warmth and packed up to leave. If I don’t make it up for any reason within seven minutes, I hope your new submarine prototype works.” Shadow finished. He gave a nod to the trio and looked at himself, the only thing covering him being his inhibitor rings. A smirk fell on his face before plunging into the water below.

-_-_-_-

Rising from his chair high above on a gunmetal platform surrounded by railings, Dr. Robotnik walked over to the railing and observed as he tested out his new arm. The bronze paint and exposed wiring left much to be desired, and felt foreign to him. However, it must be progress. He looked up to the grinning Dr. Robotnik as his robotic brother, Metal Sonic, seemed to be updating him on a situation. His sinister grin only grew wider.

_-_-_-_

Shadow had been chasing into the clear waters for three and a half minutes by his count, and still the Emerald was dropping. Looking back for a brief moment he saw the distance to the hole above, had he not had to remove his clothing then he likely would have been on his way back now.

Plant life grasped and grabbed at Shadow as he continued his descent.

‘Damn it, I should have taken time to adjust to the weather.’ Shadow cursed in his head. 

If he was going to be blunt, he wasn’t sure the twelve minutes he had given himself were entirely accurate. The half hour of underwater time was correct at one point, that much he knew. However holding his breath for long periods of time was a skill that had fallen out of practice for him. Technology had advanced since his time, and now full body suits and air tanks among other devices had been invented to allow anyone the chance to explore underwater. A luxury now severely undervalued by the dark hedgehog. His legs kicked harder as he pushed as fast as he could, a faint glow deepening into the murky abyss. Quietly lurking in the back of his mind sat a worrisome thought. Would the change in pressure from the Chaos Control affect him? Just how badly had he fallen out of practice? Do I only have four minutes thirteen seconds left or four minutes sixteen seconds? Did any of this matter?

As the Chaos Emerald continued to plummet the anxious hedgehog hurriedly pushed towards the gem. The distance between the two shrinking by the moment. Various sea life and plants start to move erratically out of the way of the chase, the emerald just out of arm's reach.

Crimson eyes burned, he could feel tears welling up along the edges of his eyes. Lungs suddenly burned with fire, desperately aching for release. Movements became more erratic and sluggish, from within the depths of the water he now only could faintly make out the glow of light blue, having come to rest on a plant. Every attempt to continue felt like anguish, his body attempted to betray him as he swam forwards.

Now in reach of the Chaos Emerald, Shadow quickly brought his left hand forward to grab it. However as he made contact the Chaos Emerald started to float back up. With every ounce of energy his body had left, Shadow swung his body around and caught the Chaos Emerald with his knees. Now in his loose grasp, Shadow felt powerless to the weight of the water pushing him to the floor.

“Chaos Control” he said as water filled his lungs.

Everything went dark for some time.

  
  


_-_-_-_

The depths of nothing other than endless void seeped around vision, color incomprehensive. The universe itself felt heavy, pressing down its enormous weight and compacting insides. A marshed drum spread throughout wherever it was. Part of the universe no longer felt heavy, though only a small fraction. Warmth started flowing its way through the narrow tunnels, expanding from it’s home and going in all directions. Blinding red and white replaced the void, everything stung and felt drenched. No longer did the weight of the universe feel heavy, instead it was both hot and cold with hardly any weight. Something gently brushed against the void before sliding further down and away. Everything felt as if millions of pins and needles were being stabbed endlessly and relentlessly into this conscience. Things started to gain weight unexpectedly, as if said conscience was being molded into a new existence. Existence was stiff and painful, as if it was trying to form and fix too much all at one time. Drumming sped up for a short time before coming virtually unnoticeable. Though not sure what, things and ideas began to creep back into memory. The first thing was that it, or rather he was a male hedgehog named Shadow. Something told him the name Terios also meant something to him, but he couldn’t figure out why just yet. He was somewhere very cold, and he had done something to make himself even colder. Then another vision of pushing away a rather large space station, holding some meaning he couldn’t quite make out. Another vision, meeting a robot and a bat, then another vision of saving people again by taking a large rock out of the city and blowing it up using the same space station. Things started to blur together, stories and visions refilling his mind faster and faster. Now he knew exactly who he was, his name was Shadow the Hedgehog. The Ultimate Lifeform created to… to do what? In a dark and damp corner of his mind's eye an endless hallway appeared, to his left sat space and to his right was nothing. He was completely alone with no way to go back. So he ran as fast as he could. Behind him doors soon appeared, heavy footsteps and gunfire. The floor continued to lengthen as a door finally appeared in front of him. Although he could hear breathing, no one else was present with him. Footsteps ran just behind him, though a quick gaze yielded no results. The hallway stopped growing, and the footsteps behind him and breathing had finally materialized. A young girl ran by his side, with blonde hair and a blue dress the girl seemed to be struggling to keep pace with Shadow, but was very desperate to do so. Shadow finally reached the door as it opened before him, but he fell through into whiteness, and as he did a brutal crack of a gunshot rang through the void with it’s haunting echo reverberating endlessly. He closed his eyes and moved forwards as hard as he could.

“Maria!” Shadow let out in a tiny and incomprehensible whimper.

The hedgehog’s eyes finally adjusted to the real world, he sat in a bare tent wrapped in several blankets, an otherwise useless G.U.N. bomber jacket now put on him facing backwards. Rouge knelt by his side while Tails and Sonic looked hopefully at Shadow, the blue one holding a pair of Chaos Emeralds and attempting to give a smug grin. A helicopter noisily made its way down to the ground far outside.

He had survived, and more importantly he had completed his mission.


	4. Salt Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hey all, this chapter is somewhat a departure of the regular style but I wanted to try out something new and I don't know if it worked so if you want to see more of it let me know. It still is relevant to the story but it's more about daily life and off time than the plot (though it holds relevance).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Suicide Reference  
> Word Count: 3255

Warm sunlight finally snuck under covers to reach blinded eyes. A cacophony of noises finally reached the awakening black hedgehog. The distant sound of gunfire and helicopters, the sound of traffic and impatient drivers. The PA system in the hallways and all the other beeps and sounds that come with living on a military base. He had been offered the opportunity to live off site several times, but always turned it down. Shadow nestled himself further back into his pillows when opening his eyes, arms resting atop the blankets laid over his chest, a few white strands sticking out from underneath. 

Deciding he might have a day to get on with, Shadow sat up completely in his bed. First he glanced to his right towards the other end of his bed, his jet boots acted as paper weights for a note that had slightly torn. Elegant handwriting read “Kept them dry for you, you made it back safely, day off so no work for a few days. - Elektra”

A small, quiet laugh escaped Shadow as he finished reading the note. G.U.N had recently made every working agent come up with some sort of codename or handle to be called, which Shadow and Rouge almost always ignored. He had chosen Terios, a word that translates back to “making dreams come true”. Chosen purely because he didn’t want to think about it, and that it was almost his purpose anyways. Rouge however, had given hers at least a little more thought, and chose Elektra. While he couldn’t exactly remember why, he knew it had something to do with her femme fatale aura she liked to keep about herself.

Moving sheets and blankets aside, Shadow got himself out of bed and pressed a button on his alarm clock, to which swing music gently rolled out of. He’d never admit it, but he had a soft spot for the sound, as it was mostly his only exposure to music during the time he was created, though for the last few years the sound started to get much louder which is where his taste for what is now considered classic rock started. Otherwise, he never really explored other genres of music under the assumption that everything was too loud. His only exception was back when he first came back to the world, and had heard this aggressive sound of drums and bass. The aggression and confusing at the time noises fit well with his anger and confusion towards the human race.

_ “Something in my heart keeps saying” _

“My someplace, is here.” Shadow said along with the radio. As he remade the bed he unconsciously found himself joining along with the song.

“And though my dreams were overdue.

_ Your love made it all worth waiting, _

For someone like you.” Shadow quietly sang, swaying along with the music.

_ “If I had it in my power” _ The radio started.

“I’d arrange for every girl to have your charms.” Shadow finished, not noticing the door to his bedroom turning open.

_ “Then every minute, every hour” _ The radio played on.

“Everybody would find what I found in your arms.” Shadow’s gain in confidence to raise his voice suddenly trailed off as a distant giggle threw him off. The radio played on regardless

He shot a glance towards the door, teal eyes and a light smile pressed back towards him.

“Ooooh, Shadow’s in love.” Rouge said in a sing-song voice.

He sighed deeply as Rouge crept into the room, the alarm radio changed songs by the time she’d walked over. “It’s not love Rouge.”

“Well, you certainly seem to be in a good mood at least.”

“... Yeah, I suppose I am.”

“Well, that’s good hun.” Rouge shifted her footing.

“So, what brings you here?”

“What, I can’t enter a friend's apartment by picking their lock just for fun?”

A smirk creeped onto Shadow’s face, the top of his teeth showing through.

“Besides, it’s technically still the team apartment.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why’s that?”

“Omega couldn’t fit through the door if he tried, and you have that new club of yours to take care of.”

“So how does that figure into this being just  _ your _ apartment.”

“I’m the one who pays the bills.”

“You don’t pay bills, Shadow.”

“Point taken.”

Shadow sighed, the both sharing a short laugh. After a short while Shadow rubbed the back of his neck, finally turning the alarm radio off and looking back up at Rouge.

“Assuming I didn’t rest through our off days, what do you need from me?” Shadow closed the distance between them as he spoke.

“I’m a little bit offended, Shadow.”

“And why’s that?”

“After all these years, you still think I’d only visit you because I need something?”

“No.” Shadow shook his head before continuing. “But you do need something, don’t you.” It was said as a statement, not a question.

“Perhaps.” was all that Rouge offered in response.

The wings on Rouge’s back flapped, then she turned to walk out the door. Not too far behind was Shadow, who gave a victorious grunt. Through the door of the bedroom Shadow could see Rouge waiting patiently for Shadow while sitting on a barstool. Returning to his bed, he slid out his rocket skates from the top of the dark blankets. Gold plating shimmered brightly at the bottom, only a few cracks and chips in paint disrupted it’s flow. Gently Shadow ran a thumb over the chip in paint, before then quickly putting the skates on and walking to the front door.

After having walked down the many flights of steps that lead to the entrance doors, a few trees shade fell over the pavement walkway. The pair opened the double doors and Rouge gestured towards the large parking garage complex. Shadow simply nodded and walked towards the garage. Air generously blew through the trees and rattled the leaves thoroughly, a few breaking off and landing on the ground. It was overall a beautiful day for the start of autumn, even if it was a little windy. Finally he reached the main desk at the parking garage, standing in the shade of a clearance sign and trees.

“Identification.” An old and rather miserable woman stated as Shadow walked up.

Shadow reached into his quills and pulled out a thin plastic card and slid it across the top of the stone counter. Soon after a familiar ring played out and his card along with a keyring were slid his way. Neither shared any other words as Shadow silently walked up the steps to the fifth level, one below the roof. Very few cars sat in their parking spaces, which made it much easier to find his motorcycle. Upon reaching the fifth floor, it sat alone on a row facing out towards the compound, covered in shade apart from the sunlight that graced the handlebars. Slowly he backed the bike out and stretched his arms before getting on top of it and starting it. The noise rumbling off of the stone walls and amplifying the idle of the engine beneath him. Carefully he drove down the levels of the parking lot back to the ground floor and out the gate where Rouge was waiting.

“You never told me where we’re going.” Shadow said as he helped Rouge on.

“My club, it’s on the outskirts of Central City.” Rouge said as she held onto Shadow’s waist.

The pair then swiftly rode out of the military base and into Westopolis. A drab backdrop of gunfire and concrete slowly drowned out by the motorcycle and the rushing wind and traffic. Over the treeline and hilly and winding roads the tops of skyscrapers poked their way into permanent view. Through bends, curves, and even rougher roads the bike still rode smoothly along. An approaching stop sign impeded their progress momentarily, Shadow slowing the bike to a halt right at the sign.

“Is there anything you need in Westopolis?” Shadow asked over the sound of the idle engine.

“Go around.” Rouge answered.

With that, Shadow took a right turn and pressed the throttle as hard as he could. Underneath Shadow the engine roared to life, now able to unleash it’s full power. His skilled judgement and vision let him cut through traffic in either lane like a breeze.

“How come you get to break the law in broad daylight?” Rouge shouted over the engine.

Shadow tapped the side of his bike, the G.U.N. emblem was a little worn, but still was recognizable. 

“No one questions you when you have government branding.”

“Is that so?”

“It could also be fear.”

Shadow rounded a steeply banked corner with ease as the wind continued to ripple through the air past them. Rubble dusted concrete narrowed and eased it’s way up a spiral to a highway. As the motorcycle made its way up the suspension jolted lightly with the change in surface to asphalt, the minor drop between surfaces not helping either. Neither of them seem to care too much though, the ride continued on as smooth as ever towards Central City.

_-_-_-_

It had taken about 45 minutes to get there, but the club’s currently unlight sign gave Shadow all the direction he needed. Rapidly the engine decelerated in revs as Shadow glided his motorcycle through an alleyway.

“Keep going, there’s parking behind the club for staff.”

So, Shadow continued to carefully weave through the alleyway towards the parking. Upon reaching a parking spot, Shadow shut the motorcycle off and kicked the stand out. A free hand running over his head and through his quills. By the time he’d looked up Rouge had already unlocked and opened the back door to the club. Tentatively Shadow dismounted the seat and followed Rouge inside to a completely empty club. For Shadow this was the first time he had ever seen Rouge’s new club, with it being less than a year old. It’s not that Shadow didn’t want to visit, it was more that the club was becoming extremely popular and large social gatherings were hardly a favorite for the hedgehog. The floor was spotless and marble, the outer rim in black and the rest in white. To his right was a doorway that seemed to lead to restrooms and a card table with two-tone purple floors on his left. A bar wrapped around the corner directly in front of him. Past the restrooms was a small area for someone to play records at, and on the far right side past the stage and the restrooms was tables and a very few private tables.

“So, what do you think of it?”

Shadow paused in thought for a moment. “It’s cleaner than I expected.”

“I admit I’m a little surprised by that too.” Rouge walked behind the bar as she said this.

“So what do you need me for then?” Shadow asked while taking a seat on a barstool.

“Well, normally I have security on duty. Problem is, one of them broke their leg… Or rather got their leg broken.”

“-And you need me to work in his place.” Shadow stated.

“It’s an easy job compared to what you actually do.” Rouge disappeared under the bar counter for a few moments.

“Making me work even on my off days… Some things never change.” Shadow sighed, he wasn’t disappointed or angry. It was merely a sigh of contention. “You can pay me for this in drinks.” He said finally after some time.

“I owe you for this one, Shadow. You're a lifesaver.” Rouge thanked him, finally returning from under the bar counter.

_-_-_-_

From his barstool seat next to the door Shadow’s hands slid from off his folded ears and into his lap. This is exactly what he’d dreaded, loud music, obnoxious people, and little space to move. Still he watched over the club for any sign of strange activity, but as it had been for the last seven hours there was nothing that needed more than a few minutes of his attention. The building seemed to shake with every other beat, lights blinded and overwhelmed his senses. Inside he felt like a ping-pong ball being hit back and forth. Worst of all however, was the drinks. It wasn’t to say that the drinks were necessarily bad, but he’d quietly swapped drinks with some unsuspecting victim whose drink was poisoned with something that made him feel like his insides were clawing against his body, aching to leave. Inside his throat and stomach everything felt like it was breaking down and burning intensely. His saving grace however, was a fast approaching Rouge.

She set down a salt shaker and a glass, which Shadow took in his hands and started to make his way through the crowd quietly. Thankfully for Shadow most everyone who either wasn’t completely drunk or dancing too hard to notice him moved out of his way. He finally reached the restroom door and opened it. A rather dingy set of stalls and faucets opposed each other. Briskly Shadow moved to the furthest sink and filled his glass with water. Then he set down the glass and unscrewed the top of the salt shaker, dumping the entirety of its contents into the glass. Insides burned entirely and everything felt prickly to the touch. While stumbling slightly Shadow picked up his glass of salt water and threw open a stall door, downing the drink entirely. The glass slipped from his grasp as he braced himself for the oncoming rush of nausea, his head pounded in agony as the acidic feeling grew in his body and rose exponentially. Loud retching noises filled the bathroom as acid, poison, and the drink’s from the night all left his body violently. Somewhere buried in the retching noises the restroom door opened. Weak arms gave out as he wiped his mouth with his arm, now sitting on the floor with his head against the bathroom stall. Someone seemed to be checking the stalls, another person seemed to be standing by the lights. Slowly he pulled a jagged piece of glass towards him and held it with his left hand as the lights went out and a gun cocked.

In the darkness Shadow snuck under the stall door as it was being opened and grabbed his attacker from behind, stabbing the shard of glass into their cheek. A shot fired into the mirror as it shattered into tiny pieces. The agent grabbed the weapon as the lights turned back on and pointed it at the other attacker. Across from him was a human man wearing a jacket and a red, yellow, and green beanie. Slowly he brought his arm holding the gun up to the man’s neck.

“You make any move that isn’t for the door and the way out of here, you won’t live long enough to regret it.” Shadow said with malice in his voice.

Quickly the man looked at Shadow’s hostage and legged it out of the bathroom and out into the party. A swift elbow to the gut made the black hedgehog double over. The clatter of the gun against tile reverberated around the bathroom as a yellow female mobian cat dove atop Shadow and punched him in the face. He hit his rocket boot against the ground to activate it before bringing it back to kick the cat in the chest. She stumbled momentarily before rolling on the ground to put out the small fire starting. Rising from the floor he picked up the gun and walked over the rolling cat, who grabbed onto his leg and caused him to trip in front of the door. This time however as the cat once again got up to dive on Shadow he turned around with the pistol in hand.

To Shadow and his attacker, it sounded like a cannon shot. But as Shadow lay on the bathroom floor and tried to regain his breath he realized that the party had carried on without pause. Quickly he hid the gun in his quills and lifted the cat from the ground to rest it’s head on his shoulder. Carefully he walked with the cat's body to the back door, opening it and closing it quickly and quietly. He shifted her to his back as if he were giving a little girl a piggyback ride. Quietly he walked down the alleyway and took a detour to his left, walking down an even narrower alley towards a barrel with wood and other garbage sticking out of it. He put the body next to the barrel and retrieved the gun, setting it in her hand and grasping it around the handle tightly. He looked down at his body, smeared in red. Degloving a hand he ran it through his chest to collect it and smear it on the wall and the ground nearby. Satisfied with his handiwork, Shadow walked back to the club, but took the staircase up instead. He turned the handle of the door at the top and entered the lavish apartment. Quietly he shut the door behind him and walked towards the bathroom to wash himself off.

_-_-_-_

Finally he turned the water off and rubbed his temple. The blood had come out long ago, but he stayed in the shower regardless. He was tired, too tired to even possibly consider heading back to his own home. The noise from below had died down considerably since he first entered the apartment. Using his arms as a brace Shadow wearily made his way out of the half shower-bathtub, white porcelain slipping slightly from his grasp. As he set down his other leg a white and gold towel wrapped around him like a cocoon, a pair of gloved hands around his waist disappearing as Shadow gripped onto it.

“That takes care of the drying problem.” Hastily Shadow started drying himself off, his back still turned to his towel-bearer.

Heels clacked along the tiled floor for a moment leading to a door quietly shutting. In the background a few drawers opened and the sound of something mechanical extending sounded through the apartment. A quiet TV started to sound and then after all other light was gone. Shadow wiped his face one last time before hanging up the towel and shutting off the bathroom light, then as he opened the door he found Rouge sitting on a couch with a bed pulled out from it, pillows and blankets neatly made on the opposite side.

“Thanks for the help tonight, I figure the least I can do is offer you a place to sleep.” Rouge said, only breaking her attention from the TV for a second to look at Shadow.

“I appreciate it.” Shadow moved to the blanketed couch and lay under it, facing away from the bright blue light emanating from it.

“Just let me know if it gets too uncomfortable for you.” Rouge set down the plastic remote on the wood table and leaned back.

Crimson eyes felt like boulders threatening to tumble, keeping them open requiring a great energy. Soon he gave in and adjusted himself a few times. Almost able to sleep but not quite yet. The cycle continued for a half hour, just as Rouge was turning off the TV Shadow moaned in frustration. The couch sank beside him and a hand gently ran up and down the blanket. The pair sat in silence for quite some time. Though that may be because Shadow had finally fallen asleep. A gentle rainfall started soon after and a police siren blared through the city.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To keep it completely honest with you all, I don't really like this chapter but it's to be expected by myself. The writing gets at least a little bit better from here on out, there are less nonsensical "said" 's at the end of nearly everything. While I do love this series and everything about it, I face burnout very easily as a person so if people ever want to suggest to me things to write in the comments or however you'd go about doing that then feel free. I'm willing to write almost anything, just so long as it's not smut.
> 
> Starting work on Chapter 6 tonight (I've been a bit inconsistent, sorry). I've got a vision as to where I want to go with all this but not a clear direction on how to get there, so that's always a fun situation to be in. 
> 
> Final order of business, I understand that even with my writing improving it's still not rather... Good? It's not horrible by any means and I'd like to think my concepts are intriguing. However I start imagining the story in my head too much and feel I leave things far to vague because I have a perfect picture in my mind, I'm not painting the picture with words well enough. I don't want to be overly verbose on descriptors but at the same time I just don't feel like I can confidently say that I'm getting the picture I see across to others. So with that, if anyone has any good stories to look at so I can better grasp what writing style you all like, or just what way you'd prefer I do this in, feel free to let me know!
> 
> That's all, take care!


	5. Thunder, Rain and Lightning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: N/A  
> Word Count: 2716

Orange fire brilliantly gleams off of a deep puddle, water nearing knee level as the fire dissipates. For a moment he stops and looks up at the figure in front of him, thunder cracks loudly and lightning follows, but the figure is still enveloped by shadows. Green vapory mist pooled into the water from near the back of his head, a small piece of glass from the car he’d just been thrown into the culprit. Shadow rubbed the back of his head. ‘Where the hell am I?’

_-_-_-_

“This rainfall is only expected to get worse as time goes on, a record-breaking storm is expected to start very soon. Make sure to stock up on supplies if you haven’t already, the flood damage that is expected will make for the second largest flood in the last ten year-”

The television snapped into a small white spec before disappearing completely. A black hedgehog removed the covers from his body and looked towards the window, white and purple flashed life into the pitch black room. The coffee table creaked as Shadow braced himself with it to stand. Quiet footsteps on carpet hit tiled floor as Shadow rifled through drawers and cabinets until he found a rotund red jar filled with coffee beans. Swiftly a hand reaches in and scoops up a sizable amount, so Shadow drops a few back into the jar before popping the handful into his mouth. Somewhere behind him, a door creaks open.

“Oh, Shadow, it’s you” A soft and tired voice calls out.

From around the door Rouge’s ears and eyes poked out, moonlight hardly illuminating her. The room itself was dark apart from the moonlight poorly illuminating Rouge and the red glow of neon illuminating both Shadow and the kitchen. Slowly and quietly Shadow put the lid back on the jar and put it away. Rain continually spat against the window. Behind him the door shut again and a light crept from underneath the door. Faintly a series of beeps played from the coffee table, a small yellow light flashing. Shadow picked up the seemingly innocuous wristwatch hastily and pressed down twice on a button on the left.

“Shadow reporting.” He said as a small video feed of a commander flashed to life.

“I had hoped so.” The commander said dryly before continuing. “We need you out in Station Square as soon as possible, an unknown character seems to be using this tropical storm to their advantage.”

“How so?”

“They’ve managed to break into Station Bank and we believe that they’re after the golden Chaos Emerald. Getting the Chaos Emerald back won’t be as important as identification this time around, just try and get some form of identification and we can stop them before they do any more damage. Good luck, Shadow.”

Shadow took the communicator and walked back to the kitchen briskly. He opened a window and rain started to spit inside the apartment, so very quickly he ducked under the window and put one leg over the edge and pushed off the outside wall towards the ground. As he fell he rolled into a ball to carry the momentum of his impact into a jet sprint through the rainy traffic, street lights glared off of the glassy road. Street lights soon turned to highway lights as he raced alongside the traffic towards the coastal city of Station Square.

-_-_-_-

From withinside his metal bubble, Dr. Robotnik looms over Station Square’s train station. Patiently awaiting the arrival of Sonic and Tails. Beside him floats Metal Sonic, the doctor smirks as he looks over at him in appreciation of his own master plan. He knows that somewhere within the city his real objective was being done for him. All he had to do was delay Sonic and Tails for a little while and he’d have himself a Chaos Emerald. Speaking of Sonic and Tails-

“The train from Mystic Ruins has arrived.” An intercom alearted from within the building.

“As expected, Tails! What’s the fuss this time Egghead?” Sonic shouted as the two stood atop the staircase.

“Oh, just world domination. I’d bore you with the details but I don’t think it’s worth it.”

“We’ll just have to see if you even get a chance to start that.”

“The wheel is already in motion.”

“Well in that case, I suppose your plans are about to come to an end pretty early.”

Lightning flashed, illuminating Metal Sonic who had sat against the night sky with his eyes closed.

“Metal huh? I thought you already got shut down.”

“Fallacious.” Metal spoke. Red light bore down upon them from his eyes, reflecting slightly off of the water that had started to rise.

“Oh, so you feel like speaking again? I don’t see how that’s going to change me beating the both of you.”

“I am better than you in every way, copy.”

“Like what?”

“I will never die, you can not say the same. Lifeform.”

Lightning and thunder met quickly, it was only now Dr. Robotnik noticed that Tails flinched every time and seemed to cower a little behind Sonic when lightning struck. He rubbed his hands maliciously and decided to keep that in mind.

“Problem is Metal, I die hard!” Sonic and Tails both set themselves in a fighting stance.

“You will still die.” Metal said as he shot towards Sonic.

_-_-_-_

Shadow arrived in Station Square quick as ever, the water was at his ankle and quickly rising. Lightning again struck now from behind the Station Bank at the end of the street. Unfortunately the flames protruding from under his jet boots were flickering from being underwater. Somewhere in the distance Shadow could’ve sworn he heard the arrival of a train. Reaching the bank he slowed to a halt as the door at the entrance opened seemingly by itself without a light inside. Slowly he crept up to enter the darkened bank, only a singular green desk lamp illuminating a far away desk. Checking his surroundings for any threats he closed the white doors behind him and stood straight while walking towards the desk. From within the near pitch black bank everything stood silently apart from his own footsteps that echoed rather loudly. Finally he reached the desk in question, mahogany wood supported a few desk drawers, papers, pens, and the green tinted white light coming from the lamp.

As a drawer opened and wood scraped against wood a second, quieter set of footsteps came from within the bank, the large vault door opening slightly to reveal a figure bathed in shadows, minimal light protruding from the yellow Chaos Emerald onto their face.

“I knew you’d come back.” A figure in the figure said, a red eye giving Shadow a faint location of him.

“I always do.”

“Then I suppose you’re after this?” The man tossed the Chaos Emerald into the air, catching it without a glance towards it.

Shadow simply nodded, the pair circled each other counter-clockwise so that the man was headed towards the light.

“Rather foolish of you to give me clear access to the door, but I always have an ace up my sleeve just in case.”

“Who are you?”

The figure seemed to deliberate for a moment, humming in thought before stopping his movement towards the light to stay in darkness. 

“The name is Eclipse.” The figure stayed in the darkness as he took a small black device with a red button from behind the yellow Chaos Emerald.

A fiery flash sent bricks and debris everywhere from behind Shadow. He launched himself towards Eclipse who ducked just as Shadow was about to crash into him. The black hedgehog rolled to a standing stop in front of the white door. A fire alarm blared throughout the bank as a few small trickles of rainwater fell into the crater that used to hold a bank vault. Shadow stood prepared as Eclipse stood atop a wooden table, kicking the lamp in Shadow’s direction as the object fell pathetically short in front of Shadow’s jet boots.

“If that is your pathetic idea of a challenge, consider it accepted.”

“Consider it offered.”

Eclipse threw the Chaos Emerald to an unexpecting Shadow who caught it purely by reflex. Stunned for a moment by the move was then suddenly chest-kicked through the doors of the bank. The yellow Chaos Emerald clattered to the ankle deep water and his back thoroughly soaked.

A smug Eclipse walked over Shadow’s body, looming over him while thunder rumbled through the cityscape. “A shame, I thought you’d prove more of a challenge this time.” Eclipse stepped on Shadow’s right hand attempting to help himself up before continuing. “You are a pest, an abject failure. I don’t know who you are, but what I know is that you will nev-”

Shadow’s smug assailant was cut short of his gloating as Shadow wrapped his legs around Eclipse’s right leg and used all of his body weight to pull his left side up while using his left hand to push him hard into the water. The resulting outcome was a loud thunk, followed by scraping metal and a plume of smoke as things snapped and popped. The smoke continued to rise and the popping grew much louder.

-_-_-_-

He had to admit, Sonic and Tails had put up quite the fight against himself and Metal. Though to him it wasn’t an admission that he had been losing, no, it was a practice run to better learn how the duo worked. That and buying time for Eclipse… He really should have radioed in by now.   
  
“Is that all you’ve got, Metalhead?” Sonic asked as the pair battled atop the side of an overturned and waterlogged bus.

“Negative.”

Just then a large rumbling noise came from down the street, a fiery explosion launched two figures backwards as his prize, the yellow Chaos Emerald clattered further in the water.

_-_-_-_

Orange fire brilliantly gleams off of a deep puddle, water nearing knee level as the fire dissipates. For a moment he stops and looks up at the figure in front of him, thunder cracks loudly and lightning follows, but the figure is still enveloped by shadows. Green vapory mist pooled into the water from near the back of his head, a small piece of glass from the car he’d just been thrown into the culprit. Shadow rubbed the back of his head, removing the glass shards he could. His opponent wasn’t in much better shape either, a red lens cracked and the bronze plating on his arm blown away, frayed and exposed wires snapped and sparked dangerously while most dangled loosely. Eclipse gets up first, stumbling a little towards Shadow and leaning over the car. Thinking quickly Shadow activates the flame from the bottom of his jet boots and illuminates Eclipse’s face. Only now is he afforded the chance to look at it, and now for certain he knew who it was. His trainee.

From a distance another battle raged on, but before Shadow could even loosen himself from the windshield to check what the commotion was, Eclipse had already picked up the yellow Chaos Emerald with his non-robotic hand and waved in that direction. Soon the sound of a jet engine pulsated closer as both Eclipse and a metallic blue blur disappeared towards the hillside, a blue and yellow-orange blur following close behind. Quickly from atop a roof at the far corner of the T-sectioned road he found himself at a pair of wings descended to the hood of the car as Rouge crouched next to him.

“Are you okay, Shadow?”

Shadow merely grunted, partially wincing as he sat himself up. His sharpened quills that he had raised helped him break the glass, but it also left the glass exposed to cut parts of his body that rarely were grazed over. Rouge merely offered a hand to help him stand up.

“Come on, it’s urgent.”

Somewhere in the distance, a man chuckled as Rouge and Shadow left.

_-_!_-_

For most mornings, it was far too early to wake up. However as rainwater plummeted down she had still awoken on high alert. A tarot card reading had forewarned her of something like this, and thankfully as always she had listened. So, as the outside world started to flood Amy Rose sat with the lights off in her kitchen, Piko Piko hammer in hand. After a few moments a house in the distance turned on it’s lights. Not wasting her time Amy pulled her red and white raincoat closer to her body and flipped up the hood. As the white wooden door creaked open she was instantaneously met with a barrage of water. Still, the pink hedgehog was undeterred. Walking past a community garden and towards the house with its lights on. More specifically, her hero and not so secret crushes house… And Tails. Upon approaching the dirt runway she noticed that a familiar glass orb sat unmanned in the middle of it. Amy gripped her hammer tighter as she marched towards the absurdly large garage that Tails had put to more than full use as a workshop, it’s door already open and an uninvited guest rifling through drawers of a workshop desk.

A footstep hit concrete with purpose, standing halfway between the rain and the dry workshop.

“I never expected you to need Tails to come up with your ideas for you Eggman.”

Very slowly, as if it was deliberate. Dr. Robotnik closed the drawer he was looking through and turned towards Amy.

“Ah, Miss Rose. How could I have forgotten.”

“What are you doing here, invading our homes.”

“Repaying the favor for all the times you’ve invaded mine.”

Amy brought her hammer up a little, still glaring daggers at Dr. Robotnik.

“Do you intend to bludgeon a defenseless doctor?”

“HYEA!” Amy let out a cry as she swung her hammer at Dr. Robotnik who barely had time to dodge, the hit leaving a noticeable split in the wood of the desk.

Quickly Dr. Robotnik picked up a black safe from the floor and started to run towards his personal carrier. However, being as encumbered as he was, Amy very easily caught up to him and ran past him, hitting the carrier down the pavement and towards the small railguard at the end of the runway. Thinking quickly Dr. Robotnik launched the safe towards Amy, who hit it with all of her might. Metal tearing like paper upon impact.

Green and light blue sparkles fell from out of it, but Amy wasn’t focused on it’s contents.

“You have me beat, Miss Rose. I will go peacefully.” Dr. Robotnik lifted his hands in the air and slowly walked by Amy, who turned to watch him enter his personal carrier.

Soon, the glass orb left and Amy walked into the workshop. Putting her Piko Piko hammer away in the void it always is kept in, she ran a hand over the cracked desk. A good chunk of wood had splintered off leaving a lightning rod hole through the bottom middle. To think it was nearly a year ago she’d talk to Shadow while he sat here during Sonic’s holiday party. She then turned towards the safe that she’d broken open and started to walk towards it. A metallic flash of blue came from the woods and pushed her backwards and high into the wall, suspending her so her head was against the ceiling and her arms were pinned against the wall.

A maniacal laugh echoed throughout the garage as the glass orb returned.

“Are you that gullible Rose?” Dr. Robotnik stepped out of his carrier and towards the safe, grabbing the gems.

“You won’t get away with this, Robotnik!” Amy yelled defiantly.

“Chances of success, 98.1% Do not resist.” Metal Sonic’s gaze bore past her and into her very soul.

“Metal! Administer phenobarbital and take her with us. She’ll be quite useful.”

“Request acknowledged.”

A sharp, pointed rod stuck out from the middle of Metal’s metallic palm. Quickly it pressed through Amy’s white gloves and into her veins. Everything seemed to slow as try all she might, her body wouldn’t move an inch on her own command. The last thing she saw before her eyelids became too heavy to rebel was Metal Sonic reaching down to carry her.


End file.
